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Speaking of turkeys...




This comes under one of those "he said, she said," sighting headings!

My husband, who isn't a bird watcher but knows I'll be interested, told me
that the other day on Durhams's Duke Univ. West Campus, he observed what
he took to be a *peacock* ambling along the ground.  He said no one was
around it (in response to my half-joking reply, "maybe it was someone's
pet peacock"). It was seen in a half-wooded, half-grassy area between
dorms. 

He does have a sense of bird body shapes and sizes, so I'm assuming this
was a large bird and bigger than a crow, for instance. Could it possibly
have been a *turkey*?  What else could someone mistake for a peacock in
outline? Are there any records of wild turkeys at Duke, even in Duke
Forest? I've always heard turkeys are rather shy, so I can hardly believe
this is what it was. I'm stumped (not that this is anything but idle
speculation). Maybe it was a plain old vulture... 

Intrigued in Durham,
Paula Mangiafico